


Red Rose

by greyone01



Series: 25 Days of Damerey 2018 [20]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: DameRey, Developing Relationship, F/M, First Kiss, JediPilot, Millenium Falcon, Red Rose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 03:36:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17821103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greyone01/pseuds/greyone01
Summary: It may have taken them a long time to get to where they were, but it only took an accidental acquisition and loss of a beautiful rose for them to come to realize it.





	Red Rose

**Author's Note:**

> Day 20 of 25 Days of Damerey

It was easily the most beautiful thing Rey had ever seen. Elegantly in its simplicity, each slender stem proudly held petals that appeared as if they were stained by the richest wine. A stark contrast to the sea of yellow, white and pink flowers that crowd the stall’s baskets, the half dozen red roses seemed to command attention to themselves. She didn’t realize that she’d stopped on her tracks, mesmerized.

Her interest had not gone unnoticed by the stall’s vendor, an elderly humanoid with weathered skin and a sad smile. “You like, huh?”

Before Rey could even nod a reply, she felt a solid body bump behind her, nearly making the hood covering her head slide off. A quick apology came from a sheepish Poe Dameron. “Sorry, I didn’t notice you stopped.”

She quickly adjusted her hood, before turning back to the vendor, who was already plucking out one of the roses and extending it to her. Rey smiled and accepted the flower, touching the petals gently with the tips of her fingers. The vendor turned to the pilot and looked at him expectantly. Poe wordlessly reached into his pocket and handed him a gold coin.

The vendor caught Rey’s eyes and motioned to Poe with his head. “Good man,” he said. “Buy his lady flower of love.”

Rey glanced at Poe, whose face had turned nearly as red as the rose she held. Normally, she would’ve teased him about it, but something in the air made her hold back. Poe usually exudes confidence, to the point that some mistake it for arrogance, but right now, he looked like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. She wanted to thank him, tell him how no one’s ever given her flowers or any gift at all, and how the small gesture meant so much to her. But her brain decided to choose the very moment to short-circuit and all she could do was to meet his eyes and hope he could see how much she appreciated what he did.

A loud squawk from a nearby stall made them both jump, breaking the moment. Blinking and visibly giving himself a mental shake, Poe gave her a small smile and suggested they get back to work. They were here on a mission, after all. Rey smiled to herself and carefully put the rose in her cloak’s roomy pocket before setting off after the pilot.

They wove their way through the busy market again, much like what they were doing before Rey got distracted by the rose. Leia’s contact was supposed to meet them near one of the repair stalls, and so far, they’ve passed by four stalls without finding anyone that meets the description.

“We’re running out of shops,” Poe muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Rey to hear. They were in the busier part of the market now, and he had to walk closer to Rey so that they don’t get separated. Occasionally, they would brush against each other with their arms or shoulders, and on the odd chance that their bare hands touch, she’d feel a buzz not unlike what she gets when they find themselves standing a bit too close to each other. She’s never had that happen with anyone else, only with Poe, and she often wondered if that’s what people meant when they remark about how kriffing attractive and charming the pilot is.

“There are two more to go,” Rey replied, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt. She did not miss the hint of uneasiness in Poe’s tone. They fell back into an apprehensive silence, going to the general direction of one of the last two shops they had to check.

A loud yell a few meters away rose above the din of the market, and then suddenly, the crowd around them began to push to the sides. A rusty cart came barreling to their direction, its owner helplessly following it with extended arms. Rey tried to side-step, reflexively grabbing Poe’s forearm to pull him out of the way. The crowd was too thick, unfortunately, and there was hardly any space for them to move into. The cart continued to whiz towards them. Just as it was about to hit them, Poe threw his arms around her and forced them both into the crowd. He managed to quickly regain his footing, clutching Rey close to stop her from falling. As Poe held her, Rey instinctively extended one of her arms and used the Force to stop the cart. The market noise gave way to a stunned silence as the crowd stared at them with the heavy cart on a stand-still only a few inches away behind Poe.

“Bantha hells,” Rey swore as her eyes quickly scanned the crowd. She lowered her extended arm as nonchalantly as she could, hoping that no one around them recognized her use of the Force. Poe remained unmoving, breathing heavily with both of his arms still around her, but Rey knew he knew what she did and was looking through the crowd as she was.

She was about to step away when she felt him tense up. “Time to go back,” he muttered urgently, releasing her from his hold. His eyes were grave when they met hers, and he gave a slight nod to her left. Following his gaze, she found a pair of hazel eyes looking at them suspiciously. She turned away hastily, following Poe as he began to move deeper into the crowd. She risked a quick look behind her to make sure that the cart had not started moving, a flash of red on the ground catching her attention. Her hand went to her cloak’s pocket, finding it empty. The rose was gone. Her heart sank, and for a split-second, she seriously considered making a dash for it.

Rey scolded herself silently for even considering such a thing. She tried to snap out of it, it was only a flower, definitely not worth them getting into potentially more trouble for. She should be focusing on the business on hand, not on something a vendor had conned her partner into paying for. Poe was moving quickly ahead of her, the press of the market crowd threatening to swallow him.

Poe seemed to sense the hesitancy in her steps, slowing down by a fraction. Without turning back, he held out his hand. Rey found herself slipping her hand in his, oddly feeling a bit better as her hand was swallowed by his. He gently tugged on her hand, urging her to hurry on. Rey hastened her pace, much more focused now.

It wasn’t long before the Falcon was within their sights. Once inside the ship, Poe let out a sigh of relief before letting go of her hand. Rey reached up to brush the hood off. She turned to find the pilot looking at her curiously. “You okay?” he asked. “What was that all about?”

She nodded wordlessly. She knew what Poe meant, he was sharper than most in noticing what was going on around him. However, she didn’t really want to tell him it was all about the rose, it seemed stupid now, so instead, she pretended she misunderstood what he was referring to. “I wasn’t thinking, the cart was coming too fast, and I had a knee-jerk reaction.”

Poe regarded her silently, obviously not buying her ruse but he seemed unsure in pushing the issue. Thankfully, his comm chirped an alert. It was Leia. Rey listened as he recounted what happened, and waited as he appeared to be receiving further instructions from the general. “She received word from her contact. Her man made us, followed us up to the south gate,” Poe explained after concluding the call. “I need to go back. You stay here and get the ship ready to go.”

Rey huffed, not really happy with being left behind. But she wasn’t feeling up to arguing with him, and she’d rather get the Falcon prepped by her instead of him, so she simply nodded and began to shrug off her cloak. Poe started for the ship’s exit, but paused just before taking a step on the ramp. He looked back at her, his eyes reflecting concern. “You sure you’re all right?”

“I’m fine,” Rey answered, setting the cloak aside near the controls for the boarding ramp. “I’ll make sure the Falcon’s all set.” 

“I won’t be long,” Poe promised, walking down the ramp.

“You better not be,” Rey called back. She took one step towards the cockpit, then changed her mind and turned back and calling out, “Poe!”

The pilot paused and turned to her. Rey gave him a small smile. “Be careful out there, Dameron.” Poe acknowledged with a salute and continued on his way. Rey’s eyes followed him until she could no longer see him, and then she began preparing the ship for take-off.

Apparently, she needn’t wait long. She barely finished her final check when Poe got back, and then they were on their way. Their departure was quick and smooth, Rey handling the main controls while Poe co-piloted and communicated with the planet’s control tower. They were in hyperspace in no time.

It was a short trip back, and thanks to the combined efforts of Rey, Rose and Chewbacca back in the base, the Falcon was now flying better than ever. Neither Rey nor Poe needed to leave the cockpit on their journey home, no alarms going off demanding action. Perhaps it was the high from an unexpectedly clean getaway, or maybe it was the excitement of bringing home what they set out to get, but the mood in the cockpit was light all throughout their trip. They talked about anything and laughed at nothing in particular, and for a few hours, it almost felt like they were not in the middle of a war. Just before their final approach to their destination, Rey relinquished the captain’s seat to let Poe take the Falcon home. Once landed, she left Poe in the cockpit when Leia asked to speak privately to the commander (his rank had been reinstated after Crait) and proceeded to the main hold to wait for him before disembarking.

She couldn’t help but gasp when she saw it. A single red rose, almost identical to the one she lost, carefully laid on top of the cloak that she had set aside. Rey felt her heart thump wildly as she reached out for the rose, almost expecting it to disappear as her hand got closer. It didn’t, and then she was holding it, the petals soft and velvety to her fingertips. She didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, so she just stood there staring at the rose on her hand, forgetting all about disembarking and debrief.

“Rey?” There was a hint of apprehension in his voice. How long he had been watching her, she didn’t know.

Rey turned to face him, the rose still on her hand. Her eyes met his with an unspoken question.

“I left it there,” Poe explained. “So you’ll be sure to see it. I saw the other rose fall when we tried to get out of the cart’s way. The vendor still had some of these on my way back, so I thought I’d get you another one.”

Rey’s head whipped to Poe’s direction. “Why would you do that?” Rey asked, her heart still thumping wildly. She thought Poe paid for the first rose only because he felt obliged to do so after she had taken it from the vendor.

“I, uh, I thought you’d like it?” Poe answered a bit nervously. “You seemed to like the first one, and you seemed upset to lose it, so I thought you’d like this one as well.” He shifted uneasily on his feet. “I’m sorry, did I overstep or something? Was it too much?”

Rey looked at him incredulously. He really should get his head off the cockpit more often. Carefully, she put the rose back where she found it before walking towards him until she was standing right in front of the pilot. Without saying anything, she threw her arms around him and held onto him until she felt his arms wrap around her. Only then did she pull back, but only enough so she could look at his face.

“Guess this means you like it?” Poe asked, the twinkle back in his eyes. “For awhile there, I thought you were going to slap me.”

“Why would I do that?” Rey chided. “It’s wonderful, Poe. No one’s ever done something like this for me ever, you didn’t have to do that.”

“Well, I, uh, wanted to,” Poe shrugged, not also making any move to step away. “I don’t know if you know much about roses or flowers, but I guess in most parts of the galaxy, you give them to someone when you want to tell them they’re special to you. That you care about them.”

“Not a lot of flowers make it to Jakku,” Rey admitted with a wry smile. “So you give them to your friends?”

“Um, yes, I guess,” Poe replied, a faint blush creeping to his cheeks. “Other flowers, maybe, but not red roses usually. Red roses are usually given to someone who’s more than a friend to you, or to let that other person know you’d like to be more than just friends with them. Like that guy said, it’s considered the flower of love.”

Rey couldn’t bring herself to respond right away. Was he really saying…? She looked at him wordlessly, their arms pressing them flushed against each other. Here he was, the best pilot in the galaxy, Leia’s most trusted man, a true leader of the Resistance, holding a nobody like her and telling her he gave her the rose because he thinks of her as more than just a friend? Or that he’d like to be more than just friends with her? It sounded and felt quite unbelievable, and she ended up whispering a question. “You’d do that for me?”

“I’d do a lot of things for you.” A shy smile was on his face as he moved closer ever so slightly. 

“For me?” Rey whispered again, breathless with his nearness.

“Yes, for you and only you.” He tilted his head slightly, his lips almost touching hers. “Can I…may I…?”

“Yes,” Rey said softly, and it was the last coherent thought in her mind. She hadn’t expected the wave of emotions as his lips touched hers, and if he had not been holding her, she surely would’ve collapsed right then and there. She felt herself lean heavily against him, her lips seemingly knowing exactly how to move with his. It was very possible that right then she had forgotten how it was to breathe, but even as she gets more breathless, she didn’t want to break away from him.

When he finally pulled back, she was surprised to find him as winded as she was. There was reverence in his eyes as he looked at her, and she couldn’t stop herself from laying her head on his shoulder. It felt as if all the waiting in her life was for this moment. As Poe press another kiss on her head, Rey tightened her embrace around him. She doesn’t know what was happening between them, but she knew with every fiber of her being that it was something good and wonderful. It may have taken them a long time to get here, but it only took an accidental acquisition and loss of a beautiful rose for them to come to realize it.

**Author's Note:**

> So, my Christmas/New Year's project had ended up extending to Valentine's Day...I don't know if there are red roses in the Star Wars universe, but I just had to have Poe give Rey a red rose.


End file.
